The invention relates to an epitaxial reactor having an enclosed and evacuable container. Known reactors comprise an evacuable container which is surrounded, for example, by a heating device comprising lights or lamps. By way of example, a cylindrical susceptor or receptacle is arranged in the container and accommodates the elements to be coated, these elements being housed in pockets on the outer walls of the susceptor or receptacle. Once the desired pressure and temperature ratios have been set in the reactor, the reaction gas is allowed to flow in and flows through in the reaction chamber between the susceptor and the inner walls of the container while depositing the desired layers on the substrate elements.
In these known reactors the wall of the container must be as cold as possible in order not to reduce their permeability to heat radiation and in order to prevent reaction products from being precipitated on the inner walls of the container. This type of coating of the inner wall of the reactor container leads to interactions which have a negative effect on the thickness of the layers and the homogeneity of the layers which are to be deposited.
These known reactors have a series of disadvantages caused by the apparatus. For this reason, the lack of uniformity of the temperature within the gas flow is very large and can be up to 500.degree. C./cm. The requirements made of the lamp or light type heating are great and a high power consumption is necessary in order to bring the substrate elements on the susceptor to the required reaction temperature. In turn this means high cost air and water cooling.